Our Educational Message

Hi, and welcome to our blog. This space is designed to share ideas and methodologies that we use to teach Turkish teenagers. In particular, there is a strong focus on ICT-ELT, which means if you like visual and technological support for your style of teaching, this blog is for you. My colleague, Brentson Ramsey, has been working alongside me for three years. He is also a big proponent of the ICT-ELT Paradigm, which means he will also be posting from his own teaching perspective on the blog.

2010 was the beginning of this new journey, and although there is no definitive ICT-ELT road map available for everyone to follow, it is exciting to explore the technological means to make teaching more fun and affective for students. Our main message is for teachers to ADOPT & ADAPT the paradigm shift for their own needs, and remember that ICT-ELT is a TOOL, NOT a SOLUTION.

Wednesday, 2 September 2015

Little Boy tells the story of an eight-year-old boy who is willing to do whatever it takes to end World War II, so he can bring his father home. However, in order to do this he befriends a Japanese-American citizen who has recently been released from the Japanese internment camp he had been forcibly removed some years earlier. This leads to many problems for the little boy with the locals, who quite unashamedly project their racial hatred and war hysteria on both the little boy and his Japanese mentor. This conflict provides the sub-plot to the movie and offers the audience an insight to yet another racist episode, not much highlighted upon, in US history.

In addition to the racial tension we see in the film, the director, Alejandro Monteverde, also highlights bullying between the school children; something for which I spend a great deal of time pointing out to my teenage students in their Life Lessons. So, I have edited some scenes from the movie that can be used with your students to point out how horrible children can be, but also to remind them bullying also happens between adults, unfortunately.

CLIP ONE

This shows how the bully & his gang pick on the protagonist because of his (short) size...

CLIP TWO

Here we learn how certain names should not be used when referring to minorities...

CLIP THREE

The Little Boy gets chased as retribution for his mom grassing up the bully to his father

CLIP FOUR

Now it is the turn of the locals to turn on the Japanese-American. Little Boy is shocked.

CLIP FIVE

Here the gang chase Little Boy along the street. His mentor comes to the rescue...CLIP SIX

The Bully steals Little Boy's list. What will he do now? He goes to see his friend.

CLIP SEVEN

Little Boy learns about the power of self-belief by listening about Samurai warriors.CLIP EIGHT

Now Little Boy witnesses the prejudice and bullying of older siblings and adults when they verbally attack and threaten his Japanese friend and mentor. So, he decides to stand up for his friend and for what is right. He holds a strong belief that "man can move a mountain" if he so desires after being told so by the local priest in the hope of getting his father back form the war. He goes about trying to move that mountain. The metaphor is both powerful and memorable as he goes about changing the mindset of the rather ignorant local townsfolk he is living beside.The above clips have been chosen as prompts for your students to look at how prejudice and racism happen everywhere, and have done all throughout history. For American teachers and students who may be reading this blog, for which I thank you :-) if you are, you could use these clips to highlight a rather dark part of your own 20th Century history and the internment of thousands of Japanese American citizens in the 1940s.On December 8th, 1941, the United States of America declared war on Japan, and by the end of 1942 over 100,000 Japanese-American people were put into internment camps away from the populated areas of the country. They were rounded up like criminals and sent to these camps. Many of them were held there until the war ended. However, some were released earlier, but their daily lives were filled with race hatred and fear from the other American people. In fact, in 1988, Ronal Reagan entered an apology into legislation to those Japanese-American families for all the suffering they had incurred at the hands of the US government. The apology stated that the reason they were interred was based on racial prejudice and war hysteria. He also apologised for the government stating they had failed in political leadership. Each family was awarded $20,000 compensation.It is fitting that the US government apologised for their actions, but it was probably too little too late. However, these clips can shed light on some history they perhaps do not know, and act as springboards for them to respond either through discussion or in their commentaries. note: the facts and figures from the Japanese internment are courtesy of www.wikipedia.com

Calvin and Hobbes is arguably one of the most well-known comic strips around the world. There is a small part inside all of us that conn...

Visual Learning

Video tutorials are a major part of our curriculum as they provide an engaging way to present media to our students. We use video tutorials in a variety of ways, ranging from grammar to class activities to thematically-based units.We have tutorials available on both Blendspace and Tildee.Click on the images below to see our list of video tutorials.

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We are at a crossroads of change in ELT, now where have I heard that before?

Hi, Everyone, I have been teaching ESL as an ELT practitioner for nearly twenty years. After having watched many different approaches to our profession take center stage, I now see ICT-ELT as the real way forward. It is not only a new and exciting way to approach your lessons, but I believe it is a way of life for the language teacher. This may sound like a cliché, and it may well be one, but I buy into the whole concept of technology as a means to support our traditional methods of instruction so that we can further engage our students for a more rounded and fulfilling learning experience. Do I condone the abandonment from text books, explicit grammar instruction, reading novels, writing essays in favour of blogs, wikis, emails, electronic journals, PLNs, games, tablets, netbooks, social networks, IWBs? NO!!

I am a strong proponent of keeping all of the aforementioned methodological approaches, and using ICT as the primary support tool to enhance, improve and develop everything we have already into much more accessible and enjoyable materials, activities and syllabuses for our students.

This blog aims to share with you my experiences from an ICT-practitioner's perspective. I hope to convince you that by making the switch to ICT-ELT you will see how it can rejuvenate, inspire and motivate you to make a difference.

Brentson ramsey: My Hazirlik Colleague, great friend and co-blogger

I have been David's colleague and mentee for one and a half years now, and they have without doubt been the most successful and exciting years of my career thus far.

I began my ELT career six years ago in Turkey. I taught young learners for the first three years, and while enjoyable, I wished day after day to be able to have an actual conversation with my students. Nonetheless, it gave me a great insight into the ELT paradigm in Turkey, and I have the utmost respect for teachers who continue and thrive in primary school.

Then, as luck would have it, I began working in a middle school and became a colleague of David's, though we weren't working together at the time. I was teaching middle school English when David began his pilot ICT in ELT program in the prep level. I instantly became curious when I heard about the new technology being used in the classrooms, and I stopped by David's classroom as often as I could. It continued this way for several months until I was offered the opportunity to part-time the prep class in reading. Though I didn't take advantage of the technology as much as I could have at first, I felt happy to be a teacher for the first time in my career. I thoroughly enjoyed being around the 14-15 years age group. They were eager to learn, most of the time, and were fun to be around.

Towards the end of the academic year, David approached me and asked if I would be interested in teaching the prep class full-time the following year. I jumped at the opportunity, and David and I began to work and plan for the next year straight away.

I have learned so much from David over the past year. I have never met such a creative and hardworking teacher and colleague. I believe, by working together, we have come up with many methodologies, practices and activities that should get all students engaged and using English in and out of the classroom. We are pleased to have an accessible place where we can share our ideas with you.